CINCINNATI — The Week 17 recreation between the Bengals and Payments has been canceled and won’t proceed, the league introduced Thursday evening.
Monday’s recreation was suspended with lower than six minutes left within the first quarter when Buffalo was secure Hamelin’s devastation He went into cardiac arrest after a process. His heartbeat was restored on the sphere earlier than he was taken to the College of Cincinnati Medical Middle.
“This has been a really tough week,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned in an announcement Thursday. “We proceed to give attention to Dahmar Hamelin’s restoration and are inspired by the enhancements in his situation in addition to the great outpouring of help and look after Dahmar and his household from throughout the nation. We additionally extremely respect the wonderful work of the medical employees and pay tribute to every certainly one of them.”
Docs mentioned earlier within the day that Hamlin had proven “vital enchancment”, together with speaking by means of writing and shifting his fingers and toes, although he was nonetheless thought of to be in a important situation.
In asserting the choice to cancel the sport, the NFL talked about three principal elements: the end result would haven’t any impact on groups eligible for the postseason; Taking part in the sport would have modified the fixture schedule for the remaining groups; Not enjoying the sport will permit all golf equipment to know their post-season prospects earlier than the beginning of Week 18.
On the time of the stoppage, the Bengals had been main 7-3. NFL officers confirmed there have been no plans to proceed the sport Monday after Hamlin collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
Buffalo (12-3) entered Week 17 tied with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs (now 13-3) for the very best document within the AFC however held the head-to-head tiebreaker. Cincinnati (11-4) trailed each groups by one recreation however would have held a three-way tiebreaker with a win over the Payments. The Bengals, now the AFC Champions, beat the Chiefs in a Week 13 rematch of final yr’s AFC Championship recreation.
Due to the canceled recreation, league house owners will vote on Friday — with 24 of the 32 required (a three-quarters majority) to approve — on situations accredited by the Competitors Fee on Thursday involving a impartial web site for the AFC Championship Sport. These are primarily based on week 18 outcomes:
• If Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis win or tie, the Payments-Chiefs Championship recreation will probably be at a impartial web site.
• If Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis lose and Baltimore wins or Baltimore wins, the Payments Chiefs championship recreation will probably be at a impartial web site.
• If Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis lose and Cincinnati wins, the Payments or Bengals vs.
Doable impartial websites have but to be recognized. Seeds will maintain up all through the playoffs.
If Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis each win this weekend, the 2 leaders will get a bye. If Buffalo wins and Kansas Metropolis loses, the Payments would be the #1 seed and get a bye, and no impartial websites will play.
If the Baltimore Ravens win and are matched up towards Cincinnati in an AFC wild card recreation, the spot will probably be determined by a coin flip. If Cincinnati wins or if the 2 groups don’t match up towards one another after a possible Ravens win, common scheduling procedures will go into impact.
Bengals government vp Katie Blackburn sits on the competitors committee, which accredited the situations Thursday. In a memo obtained by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, Blackburn urged panelists to vote down the situations. Her reasoning stemmed from altering the bottom timing away from the win percentages commonplace used on this situation.
“The correct course of to vary the foundations takes place within the low season,” Blackburn wrote. “It isn’t acceptable to place groups ready to vote for one thing which may give rise to bias, favor one crew over one other, or have an effect on their standing when the voting takes place instantly previous to the playoffs.”
In his assertion, Goodell mentioned he understands that “there isn’t any excellent resolution.”
“After we seemed on the soccer schedule, our ideas had been to cut back disruptions throughout the league and to cut back inequality within the competitors,” he mentioned.
Bengals coach Zack Taylor mentioned Wednesday that the crew is making ready to tackle the Ravens because the league mulls the way forward for the Payments-Bengals competitors.
“We’ll let these choices be made amongst those that need to make them,” Taylor mentioned. “All we’ve now could be preparing for Baltimore Metropolis on Sunday.”
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow He mentioned rescheduling the match can be tough.
“I feel no matter Buffalo desires to do is what we need to do as nicely,” Burrow mentioned Wednesday. “We’re 100% behind them and help them in no matter they determine to do shifting ahead.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Dan Graziano contributed to this report.